![]() By the same token, when extremists of the ultra-right excoriate feminism, they name Steinem (along with Friedan and former Congresswoman Bella Abzug) as a leader of the “Jewish conspiracy” to destroy the Christian family. When historians distill the essence of the women’s movement known as the Second Wave (as opposed to the suffrage campaign, the First Wave), they often embody it in two names- Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem-both ground-breaking pioneers, both identified as Jews. ![]() ![]() She is here because, as she puts it, “Never in my life have I identified myself as a Christian, but wherever there is antisemitism, I identify as a Jew.” Finally, she is here because in the eyes of the world she is Jewish, and thus whatever she does is associated with Jews and Judaism, for good or for ill. She is included here because her father was a Jew, because she considers herself an outsider and sees Jews as the quintessential out-group, and because she feels drawn to the spirituality and social justice agenda of Jewish feminism. With all this, what is Gloria Steinem doing in a Jewish women’s encyclopedia? She lost what little interest she had in religion when she became a feminist and started “wondering why God always looks like the ruling class,” but she still loves the pagan parts of Christmas-the tree, presents, and midnight Mass. ![]() ![]() She was born to a rebellious Scotch Presbyterian mother, raised in Theosophy, and baptized in a Congregational church at the age of ten because her mother thought she should be old enough to remember it. ![]()
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